COVID on the Gold Coast: Mayor Tom Tate pleas for residents to do the right thing

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate warned Greater Brisbane residents to follow the rules "so this lockdown is not extended in any way". READ THE FULL REPORT

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GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate warned Greater Brisbane residents to follow the rules "so this lockdown is not extended in any way". 

He also urged Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk not to overreact going forward after a three-day lockdown was reintroduced to greater Brisbane on Monday.

“I urge the Premier to not overreact while, at the same time, following the advice of the Chief Health Officer (Dr Jeannette Young)," he said.  

 “Nationally, the vaccine program is ramping up across Australia. 

" Further, tens of thousands of small business operators are already nervous as they are about to experience life without JobKeeper support. 

"While I appreciate that it is a balancing act to protect public health and minimise economic impact, I hope the three-day lockdown gives enough certainty that travel restrictions can be eased before the Easter break."

A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said they would provide ongoing support to Queensland Health as part of the response to COVID-19.

“As part of the QPS response, police officers have been conducting compliance checks on people where necessary,” she said.

“… The QPS will not be providing comment on individual cases where enforcement is required."

People who are self-quarantined must call 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) for further advice and to register for support.

“Staff at 13 HEALTH can connect people through to a local public health unit and other health support services.”

MORE: Queensland Airport’s Limited CEO Chris Mills had his fingers crossed the lockdown would not drag on as Gold Coast Airport’s impressive recovery continues.

“I’m hoping it (the lockdown) will not have any great effect,” he said.

“When we think about the fact the Queensland border shut this time last year, effectively, most of that time since then it’s been a real struggle.

“In February we were running at about 30 per cent of what we used to be running at, but in the last few weeks it’s been building week by week.

“A week ago there was 30 flights coming each day, this week there’s 40 flights and by the weekend there’ll be 50 flights a day coming in.

“We’re not hearing from the airlines about any changes for what they have planned for the Easter period.”

Still, Mr Mills anticipated some holiday-makers would cancel trips.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if some people, depending on what their plans are, revised plans but we’ve still seen strong numbers today (Monday) of people coming into the airport,” he said.

Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan called on interstate residents to hold on to their bookings, hopeful the lockdown would be short-lived.

“It’s obviously heartbreaking for our industry as there is concern leading into our Easter period on the impact, but at this period in time we are putting our confidence in the Queensland Health system and contact tracing to manage this issue,” she said.

“We’ve been down this path before and if we can get through it as swiftly as possible with everyone doing the right thing hopefully we can see travel restrictions eased heading into Easter and importantly the school holidays.

“We need everybody to be doing the right thing, listening to the health advice and abiding by the restrictions and the rules so we can get through this period as quickly as possible.

“Our message to everyone in the country is to hold on to your Easter bookings – let’s get through these next three days.”

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